The Central Board of Direct Taxes on Friday signed seven more unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with taxpayers, taking the total number of such pacts to 39.

“The seven APAs signed on Friday pertain to various sectors of the economy like investment advisory services, software development services and IT enabled Services. The agreements signed today also include one of the few agreements to be reached in the manufacturing sector,” said an official release.

Tax authorities have signed 30 such agreements this fiscal. The APA scheme, which was introduced in 2012, tries to provide certainty to taxpayers in transfer pricing by specifying the method of pricing and setting the prices of international transactions in advance.

The scheme provides certainty in transfer pricing up to a period of nine years and helps reduce tax disputes.